Our trip to cowboy museum, L.A. Zoo

One year today we took a trip with Jane from our Santa Clarita motel to the Autry National Center of the American West and to the Los Angeles Zoo at Griffith Park in L.A. While you and I had been to both places lots of times before, this was Jane's first big visit to California, so we had a grand time showing her around.

At the museum, we spent a good amount of time playing on the Old West set (a picture of the area where you can apper in a film is shown here). Then we had fun playing in the bungalow house and the Chinese restaurant in the museum's lower level. You made Jane and me "lunch"!

After that, we went to the zoo, where we we saw flamingos, gorillas, zebras, giraffes, tortoises, chimps and spent some time at the playground.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from our grand adventure.

Our big weekend in Santa Clarita

A year ago today (Feb. 11, 2013), we spent the weekend in Santa Clarita staying in a hotel with Jane. We had a grand old time playing "Star Trek" with one another at the hotel, which had doors opening to the outside and was on two levels. You and I snuck around the floor and down the stairs looking for Klingons as we played with our phasers.

That evening, we went to Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant where the three of us enjoyed a big Italian meal of lasagna and your favorite, tiramisu. You might remember that we had a long wait, but you and Jane (who you'd just met for the time the night before though you'd spoken several times with her on the phone) got along swimingly and kept each other entertained. Watching you guys get along so well was a lot of fun for me!

One of my favorite photos ever was one taken of the three of us at the dinner table - you made the silliest face for it! The photo on this posting is the seocnd photo taken in the series; I have to unpack the actual photo and get it scanned in one day.

Recall your Imaginext space robot?

Do you remember your Imaginext space robot? It was a toy you had as a preschooler when we lived in the green house in Lancaster.

It was a tall figure in which you could place an astronaut who then would manuever the robot around, usually when exploring a planet!

Typically we played with this space robot when playing with the Imaginext space station. Our astronaut in his robot suit would go out and exploring only to be attacked by a space alien! Sometimes our astronaut won, sometimes he didn't.

My email to you on Feb. 9, 2013

Here is a copy of email sent to you on Feb. 9, 2013, in case you do not receive it.

 

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing today? I’m doing fine, but I miss you very much! I wish we could spend the day together. Unfortunately, I did not receive the response to my email, though. Please have your mother resend it, along with your emails from the previous six weeks that have yet to arrive. I also would like to see your report card, so please make sure that comes with your email. If your mother is unable to send emails, perhaps she could simply snail mail your responses to me. I look forward to reading them!

What are you learning about in school? The last you told me, you were studying letters and the sounds they made; I think you were up to the letter “L”. I bet by now you are up to the letter “S” or “T”. You are in a very smart class – when I went to school, we didn’t learn letters and their sounds until first grade!

What kind of math stuff are you learning? In kindergarten, we learned how to count to 10 and about shapes. But I taught you to count and about shapes long ago, so I bet you must be learning something different now – either that or you must be finding you math class very easy!

You also said you were studying the solar system. Did you know that in just a few weeks something from the far reaches of our solar system will light up our skies? In mid-March, we should be able to see a comet at sunset. On March 12, look to the west where the moon will be. Then look to the left of the moon. The comet will look like a streak of white cloud. Hopefully March 12 won’t be cloudy!

Have you read any good books lately? I finished editing the book in which the mean captain stole his old submarine in San Diego so that no one else could go on it. But another guy sneaked on board the submarine and stopped him! The submarine was returned where it belonged.

Another good book I have read is “The Biggest Valentine Ever,” by Steven Kroll. It’s about two mice, named Clayton and Desmond, who decide to make a valentine for their teacher. But they start arguing about how to make the valentine! Will they ever be able to get along so they can finish the valentine? You will have to read the book and find out. I bet either your school or city library has the book.

I have purchased some card games, like Old Maid and Go Fish, that you asked if we could play the last time we are together. We next get time we get together, on March 1, I will bring them. I’ll also bring the fun sticker board game we had with the rooms and family. I also have that replacement birthday present for you!

That is all for now. I love and miss you very much! Happy birthday on Feb. 23!

Love,

Dad

Our 'Six Million Dollar Man' DVDs

I have been spending the last few nights watching old "Six Million Dollar Man" episodes on DVD. I'm up to season 4, having started to watch the show when we were still together in the green house in Lancaster.

You were utterly fascinated by the box that the DVDs came in. Besides having a hologram on the top of the box that showed the Six Million Dollar Man running toward you, when you lifted the lid a recording went on that recited the show's opening words: "Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive...(etc.)" You loved to open that lid again and again and puzzled over exactly how words could come from a box!

One other "Six Million Dollar Man" memory I have of you: Whenever the opening sequence ran, there are a couple of seconds where a doctor, with his back turned to us, is watching Steve Austin run on a set of monitors. You'd always ask, "Who is that guy? Why is he doing that?!" and get really exasperated by it!

Recall your Imaginext helicopter?

Do you remember your red Imaginext helicopter toy? We had hours of fun playing with it when you were a preschooler!

It came with two guys who had the letter "R" on their shirts. Though it stood for "Rescue", you thought it meant "Robin" of Batman fame because Robin had an "R" in a circle on his shirt just like our helicopter pilots! So you always claled it "Robin's helicopter"!

The neat thing about the helicopter was that it had a string on a winch that could hang from the door and attach to a gurney. When one of our characters was injured in a "fire," we could place that person on the gurney, pull them into the helicopter, and then take off to the hospital! Usually this character was a girl from a Playmobil set whose hair we lost, so she looked like she had a head injury!

Recall your 'Hikes with Tykes' hoodie?

Wearing your Hikes with Tykes hoodie.

Remember your cool Hikes with Tykes hoodie? In summer 2011, I published my first book, called "Hikes with Tykes," which was a guide to hiking with children. To help promote the book, I had some shirts made up with the book's title over the left breast.

I had a black T-shirt and sweatshirt. For you, I got a gray hoodie.

It was a perfect little item to keep you warm - it had pockets in the front that you could tuck your hands into and a hood that you could throw up over your ears in case there was wind.

I shall have to order a new hoodie or some other shirts with my book title or cover on it for you to wear!